2015 2.7 5 sp MT - what's worse, under or over revving?

Still getting used to my Taco... seems to be taking me awhile to adjust to the shifting. I have a steep hill that I have to go up every day, and most times I get into second at just the right time, but sometimes I don't and then I end up under revved (bogged down) at bottom of hill, and by the time I get up to a decent speed I am then over revved (3200 or so).

That got me to wondering... aside from the hill, is it better when shifting to err on the side of being in lower RPM (maybe 1000-1200) or higher (2800-3200)? Meaning, if I go from first to second or second to third etc and I end up in the higher gear at low RPM's, is that better (gas mileage and motor longevity) than waiting until 2800-3200 to shift?

In other words, is under-revved worse than over-revved?

 

Dude there's a rev limiter for a reason.

1000-1200 might be a little low for for an up shift, but as long as the truck isn't shuddering when you step back on the gas it isn't going to hurt anything. Shifting at 2800-3200 isn't going to hurt anything either. I found when my truck was stock it got the best mileage if shifted between 1600 to 2200 or thereabouts.

ETA: I have been told that really lugging and engine can cause problems, maybe even a thrown rod, but 100k on 2.7 5spd I've shifted anywhere from a 1k to red line more than few times. Truck still goes well and gets over 20mpg unless its all 70mph or woods road driving. If you ever tow with it you might find that going up bigger hills you will be running over the 3200 to maintain speed.

 

IMO Under reving is not good for the engine. I'm sure it isn't going to blow up or anything. You are not going to over rev the engine. Let it rip!

 

Yea I drive my truck easy and also hard. I'm running 33's now and honestly with 4.10 gears the truck still does okay. Going up a good grade I can hold 75mph at times in 4th gear at 3200rpm. But it will hold up amazing in 3rd gear loaded down at about 5k. It's all just maintenance. A high maintained truck will last. And gas mileage for me isn't my priority but I'm getting about 18-20 around town. And 20-22 highway. All depends on the wind for me. Running light bars and a sub kills mpg at Times.

 

3200rpm is nowhere near "over revving", hell the 2.7L doesn't make max torque until 3800rpm. As a former sports car kind of guy, whats with truck guys and never going past 2.5k rpm? This is a 4 banger after all, they need be to revved to make any decent power to move our 4000lb trucks, it's not a large V8 with gobs of torque and 4-5k redline. lol